


the snowflakes are cold but you are so warm

by DistractedDaydreamer



Category: Cinderella Phenomenon (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alcohol, Christmas, F/M, Post-Good Karma Ending (inFAMOUS), character ensemble!! everyone at the Marchen is here, fluff with a bit of sad, people get a lil drunk pls blame that for ooc AHAHAHA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21986770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistractedDaydreamer/pseuds/DistractedDaydreamer
Summary: Christmas at the Marchen is not without its troubles. But still, it's Christmas.(secret santa 2k19)
Relationships: Lucette Riella Britton/Karma, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	the snowflakes are cold but you are so warm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Gasterly_Ghast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Gasterly_Ghast/gifts).



Lucette watches the last advisor leave the meeting room before finally allowing herself to slump back in her chair. Goodness. Who knew ruling would be so much work?

She begins to walk around the room to put out the lamps which had been lit once the sun had set, picking up the last one before hurrying back to her rooms to freshen up. The meeting had run over. Despite her hints to wrap things up, the courtiers had insisted on dithering over the exact amounts of tax and levies for one of the further provinces. She was so, so tempted to yell at them, or just walk out, but this meant a lot to her. King Genaro -- no, father, he had asked her to call him that -- was trusting her with some of the minutiae of ruling in a way he never had before. 

After the Marchen had broken into the palace to liberate King Genaro and Queen Ophelia, her father had finally, finally said that he wanted to talk to her, and meant it. As things were settling down, he would take a few minutes every evening to ask her to his study, and ask her how she was doing, and what she had done that day. The first month was stilted. Sitting in the plush armchair in her father’s study, she could not relax, responding in short, curt sentences. On the other hand, her father was on eggshells around her, awkwardly jovial at times or strikingly insensitive. And sometimes he would just look at her, and she could read disappointment in his eyes and the way he did not seem to know what to say and suddenly the warm room would feel oppressive. When the silence became too awkward, too tense, Lucette would curtsey and leave abruptly. Sometimes she would go find Karma to spar, or just talk, but once he left for his kingdom, she would go to her room instead. Even with the Delora Doll Debacle, as Emelaigne had jokingly named it, she still found comfort in holding and looking at the beautiful toys.

And yet, over time those few minutes became easier, became a half hour, and then sometimes hours. Conversation lightened. It wasn’t easy, but after a difficult and tearful conversation childhood, her mother, and her time cursed, they had finally broken through to each other. Father had been delighted that Lucette was willing and eager to learn how to be a better ruler, her father had started teaching her about some assorted political knowledge, history and economics. He had slowly started bringing up the issues they were discussing at work, asking her thoughts on it, and now he was letting her handle some of it in his stead. 

Last fortnight, her father and stepmother had gone as a diplomatic emissary to help with rebuilding and settle arrangements for repairs, rebuilding and restitution due to a dispute with witches and the neighbouring countries at Angielle’s borders, and he had chosen to let her hold down the fort while he was gone. And she was not going to let him down!

It was only supposed to be for a week, but a snowstorm and some troubles had the royalty stuck, and they wouldn’t return until after christmas. When word had reached them, Emelaigne suggested that they all celebrate at the Marchen’s holiday party instead and give the palace servants the day off. Lucette had agreed, which is how she now finds herself hurrying through dim corridors with a small basket of presents she had picked up and a warm shawl over one arm. As her brisk walk takes her to the secret corridor which she had first learned of during her time cursed, she feels a stirring of excitement. 

* * *

The Marchen is alive with lights, people and music. Delora and Parfait had opened the doors and lifted the enchantment hiding the Marchen, so people both formerly cursed, still cursed and the townspeople now mingle in the open square in front of the inn. Inside, more people congregate, and a large tree dominates one corner of the room. Lucette makes a beeline for the tree, seeking to set down her presents. It is busy enough that she is relatively anonymous, which is a relief to her. While the townspeople had warmed to her after her curse was broken and it was far better than the hostility of the past, she doesn’t think that she would ever enjoy the attention. Setting down her presents under the tree, she hesitates, before snatching one small box off the pile of presents. She would like to give Karma that herself, in person. 

“Lucette!” Annice calls, making her way towards her with a few cups balanced on a tray. “I’m so glad you could make it, I thought maybe you weren’t coming!” Her delight is so genuine that Lucette musters up a small, apologetic smile. 

“Some issues came up and the meeting ran over so I had to be late. Have you seen Karma?”

“Ah, sorry, he went towards the kitchen a while back but I’m sure he’s coming back to join the rest soon? They’re over by the fire, take one of these and go join them!” 

Once Lucette picks up the cup, Annice beams and rushes away into the crowd. Cradling the warm cup of mulled wine in both hands, Lucette makes her way to the congregation by the fireplace, who chorus greetings as she approaches. 

Jurien is leaning into Garlan’s side on the plush couch, who has one arm around her in an unusually possessive and affectionate gesture. Emelaigne is curled into an armchair, a warm blanket pulled over her legs, talking softly with Delora, who is sitting close to Parfait with one hand absently tracing circles along her leg.

Rod is talking animatedly to Parfait, who is nodding along, looking slightly overwhelmed at how expressive the more stoic boy is. He gesticulates sloppily as he narrates a story Lucette has never heard before, featuring an escaped goat, a kidnapped doll, and a missing bag of potatoes. He had managed to break his curse with Lucette and Waltz’ help, but Sebby still flops on his shoulder, adding his own comments peppered in with the story. 

As she settles down on one of the remaining unoccupied chairs, Lucette takes a deep drink of the mulled wine. It is just the right side of hot, spicy and fragrant, fruity and absolutely delicious. She realises quickly how thirsty she is and gulps the rest down. 

“It’s good, isn’t it!” says Garlan. “Annice’s recipe. Not sure what she puts in it, but it's addictively good. Waltz drank so much he passed out.” Lucette looks where Garlan is pointing. Indeed, Waltz is slumped against the staircase. Some of the kids she recognises as the audience of the puppet show cluster around him with paints. One appears to be adorning him with a mustache. Another is elongating his eyebrows. 

“Waltz drank like, one and passed out. He may be going on 23 now, but he has the stamina of a child when it comes to drink,” comments Delora.

“Did Chevalier even drink?” Jurien says, musing aloud at how spryly Chevalier is moving around the inn, helping Annice deliver food and refreshments. The doctor is doing so with his typical flamboyant compliments, making him a hit with the ladies and...not so much of a hit with their boyfriends. “He’s acting exactly the same as he always is!”

Perhaps attracted by the sound of people talking about him, Chevalier turns around. Despite the light of the Marchen being exactly the same as it always was, light somehow glints off his glasses, obscuring his eyes as he flashes a smirking grin back at the ladies he was talking to initially.

“I’m only drunk off the presence of such beautiful ladies.”

Being drunk only increases Lucette’s urge to hit him. Thankfully for her, Jurien thwacks him first, picking up a bread roll from the platter in front of them and throwing it with deadly aim.

“Ouch!” Chevalier exclaims, rubbing at his arm. The lady he complimented laughs uproariously and almost stumbles despite the supporting arm of her sister as she ushers her out of the Marchen. “That hurt almost as much as my heart which has been crushed by my lady’s indifference,” he opines, before taking the drinks he was initially bringing to the girls over to the group. “Was that really necessary?”

“You aren’t necessary,” says Jurien.

Lucette is feeling rather lightheaded. Maybe she shouldn’t have drank the wine so fast. She ought to contribute something though, shouldn’t she?

“You know who isn’t necessary?” Lucette asks, perhaps a little too loudly, attracting the attention of most of the group. 

“What?”

“Noble advisors. I am so SICK of noble advisors. You know what I thought I would never say? Alcaster has-had...has one redeemable quality. And I firmly believe Alcaster is terrrrrible.” She drags out the last word to emphasise it, and Jurien laughs and claps encouragingly. “One of the worst people I’ve ever met; he was arrogant, a scheming conniving traitor who deserves worse than pig slop to eat and a cell for the rest of his days. And he was an asshole of a father to the bestest, kindest, most wonderful knight thats ever lived. Even I liked Fritz before and I didn’t like anyone then.”

Jurien and Garlan exchange a look. They shrug. It was pretty fair to say that Fritz must have been an angel who Alcaster did not deserve to have as a son, even if Lucette by extension had said they were not the best knights. Parfait looks faintly worried, but Delora is grinning and Chevalier looks amused. Emelaigne is watching wide-eyed and a little fond-- Lucette isn’t normally this loose around them, and it’s endearing seeing her so carried away. And vicious.

Lucette continues: “I do not believe that man would know how to admit he was wrong even if he had a detailed ten step guide. When he advised my father, he would always sulk like a baby if anyone contradicted him, and that never changed, he just never grew the balls to do anything until Myth motivated him. But at least he knew when to shut up. Some of my advisors now...They talk and talk, even when they have nothing worth saying. They just keep buzzing and buzzing. Like flies. Maybe they can sense that they’re FULL OF SHIT!”

Lucette stops to take one of the drinks off Chevalier’s tray, taking big gulps of the delicious spicy liquid. 

“I’m sure they aren’t that bad,” defends Emelaigne half-heartedly.

Lucette sighs and fixes Emelaigne with her most tired, weary look. Then she glares at her cup “They really are that bad. I need a holiday so much but I can’t right now. Guess I’ll have to settle for drinking until I don’t know where I am.”

“Wow, Lucette!” laughs Delora, “Not that I don’t agree with you, but I’ve never seen you like this before.”

Lucette laughs too, but it comes out more bitter than mirthful. “That surprises me. You’re the witch who sat on my shelf for a year, saw me at my most vulnerable, and didn’t even try to talk to me or let me get to know you before cursing me! And then you laughed at me when I was understandably scared and out of my depth. And THEN stole my control again when you made me sweep floors with Mr Broom, thinking it all some merry lark! But you know me so well, don’t you.” 

The group, which had been laughing before, hushes. Delora looks like she’s been backhanded across the face. In that moment, Lucette realises what she has said, and her face flushes. She sets down her cup slowly, wanting to take it back, but also not knowing what to say. It was true. She had been hurt. But she also had never planned on saying it, or losing control like this. 

“I...I’m going to get some water and some food.” She stands, feeling the blood rushing to her head, picks up Karma’s present again, and hastily retreats to the kitchen as fast as she can. 

* * *

No one is in the kitchen, which is a relief to her. A casserole, still warm, is sitting in the oven, so she scoops some into a bowl and eats some slowly, savouring the rich creamy flavour. But her thoughts aren’t on the food. She was so stupid. She never should have drunk so quickly on an empty stomach. As she eats, she looks at the present, a small rectangle wrapped in cheery paper. Where is Karma? He said he would be here. He said he was looking forward to seeing her again, though he hadn’t seemed quite himself when he bid her goodbye in the morning to go help at the Marchen. 

She remembers that Annice said that Karma had gone into the kitchen. The back door was open just a crack. Setting down the casserole, she pads over to the back door and pushes it open, shivering as the cold winter air blows straight into her face. 

Sure enough, Karma is sitting under one of the trees in the small garden behind the Marchen. His cheeks are faintly flushed, and he is staring out into the distance melancholically as snowflakes dust his long red hair. It is tangled, perhaps from his hand running through it. 

“Hello little chameleon,” says Lucette, coming to sit by him. He jumps at her greeting, but smiles charmingly at her and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He kisses her forehead. 

“You remembered! But you know I could never hide from you my beautiful queen,” he whispers, his hot breath trailing along her cheek, and she smiles up at him. But in a moment her smile drops. Karma’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes, and his eyes are somewhat puffy and unfocused. Her eyes flicker down and catch on the nearly empty bottle beside him. 

Taking her look for judgement, Karma picks up the bottle. “Apple cider, my favourite.” He smirks and licks his lips. “Want a taste?”

“Not right now...Karma, what's wrong? You’re acting strangely.”

“I’m...perhaps more tipsy than advisable?" He pouts. "Don’t be mad princess.”

“Yes, I am a bit tipsy too. So I cannot be mad. But I mean that you have been acting strangely since last night.” 

“Oh…” Karma sighs. He drinks the rest of the bottle, sets it down with a clink. “I’m not the best company right now. I would not want to burden my sweetheart with my troubles.”

The alcohol still in Lucette’s veins lends her courage as her anger flares. She pushes away from him so that she can look him directly in the eye. “Karma, I told you last time not to keep secrets from me. Remember your curse? I almost killed you because you didn’t tell me anything! No matter what is troubling you, I promised to always love you, no matter what, and you promised me that you would stop keeping things from me!”

Karma is silent for a moment, then smiles. “Ah, my little spark, I can always trust you to tell me when I’m being too silly. I’ll tell you. I found out yesterday that my father is ill. Llama wrote me to say that given that I am next in the line of succession, my father wants me there just in case he doesn’t recover.. Llama wants me there because the nobles are pit vipers, and they’re up to something.”

Lucette can connect the dots. “So you have to go.”

“Yes. It’s my duty. Once, I would have just ignored it and kept on doing whatever I needed just to enjoy myself, but I am not that kind of person anymore. You taught me that.” Karma raises one hand to caress Lucette’s face, and she reaches up to hold it there, leaning into the warmth of his hand on her chilled skin. “Yet I don’t want to leave you again, and Lucette, I don’t know how long I will have to be gone. I might have to spend months in Brugantia until my father's condition stabilises and the politics are more stable.”

“Why can’t Llama handle it?” It feels so unfair to her. Karma had come back for her birthday, but then he had been called away for another three month period before he could come back. And the last month, Karma had been one of the few things keeping her sane as she grappled with her responsibilities and stresses, always being there to cheer her up or to listen.

“Llama isn’t the crown prince.”

“But you told me before that your father doesn’t take you seriously. Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed here, doing good at the Marchen?” _And stay here with me. Don’t leave me Karma. Please, Klaude._ Lucette wants so badly to say the words out loud, but it feels so selfish. So needy. She can’t bring herself to ask.

Karma can see the unspoken plea and question in her teary eyes. If anything, his expression becomes even more impossibly sad. “It’s my father, Lucette. Even if my father and I are not that close, how can I stay away? What if he dies and I’m not there? I have to know they are safe.” 

Lucette nods. She doesn’t think she can make words right now, but she understands. She would have done anything to protect her father, even when she thought he hated him. And if there had been anything she could have done to save Fritz, she would have done it. 

To her horror, Karma turns away and begins to cry. Comforting has never been Lucette’s strong suit . She is at a loss. Awkwardly, she lays one hand on his shoulder. “Karma?” she asks.

“Lucette...I know it’s the right thing to do...the right thing as a son, the right thing as a prince, the right thing as a person. But how is it right to do it if it means being a bad betrothed to you? We’ll be separated for I don’t know how long!”

“Klaude. You could never be a bad betrothed. Firstly, you still haven’t asked me to marry you.” Karma cracks a smile at that, reaching up to wipe his tears away. “And secondly…” Lucette blushes, looking down. She feels so self-conscious, but she refused to let the embarrassment stop her from correcting Karma’s mistake and meeting his gaze. “Secondly, you aren’t bad… you’re the best thing in my life.”

Karma is looking at her with that powerful intensity again. When he speaks, his voice is rough. “Love, you shouldn’t say things like that. It only makes me more certain I never want to leave you.” He reaches for Lucette’s hard, warming it in his, and smiles, his eyes glowing with warm emotion. A spark of mirth enters them. “But also, I have to correct one part of that statement.”

Lucette crosses her arms and looks at him sternly. “It’s my life, I get to decide what the best part is.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Lucette watches curiously as from his seated position, Karma turns to face her directly, kneeling on one knee. He reaches into his coat, producing a box in deep velvet blue, tied with a red ribbon. “Merry Christmas Lucette. Will you open your present?”

With trembling fingers, Lucette undoes the ribbon and opens the box. Inside rests a small silver ring, intricately wrought with the design of a rose, set with a deep red stone. The band resembles flickering tongues of flame. “Lucette, I love you. I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I know it won’t be easy doing our engagement long distance, but I want you to know how serious I am. If you would have me, you would make me the happiest man in the world if I could be your husband.”

And when Lucette smiles back, and says yes, her tears are not just sad but joyous. And Karma’s heart soars when she kisses him in that cold garden, the snowflakes falling so cold but the two of them so warm on that christmas night. And she can believe that they will be okay. 

After they have cried, and hugged, and admired the beautiful ring on her finger, Lucette catches sight of her own gift for Karma, lying abandoned next to her. “Damnit Klaude,” she says laughing. “You got me such a wonderful present, but I just got you make-up.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi @emerald! i hope you liked it -- i tried to squeeze in as many things as you said you liked as i could. not sure i hit the nail on the head but i tried TM. some interesting story notes you might enjoy
> 
> 1)there was another, extremely fluffy ending to this. which i changed to get more angst. however in my head the events still happen later on and lucette actually ends up following klaude to brugantia later on.  
> 2)i am not certain what happened with the curses. i am going with waltz's curse is broken, and working together they have solved many more curses, but the cursebreaking process takes a long time so not everyone is uncursed??  
> 3)im sorry i couldn't work fritz in or more of the drunk scenes!! originally the angst was that Fritz was dead because man, I am not over that.  
> 4)apple cider is canonically klaude's favourite drink!  
> 5)post the events of this, delora and lucette actually have a tearful talk, and she finds out about delora's daughter. it just didn't end right when i tried to write it, but if you'd like I can try to continue it and add that!  
> 6)i had to google what a casserole is.  
> 7)i wanted SO BADLY to work mr broom in but i have failed i could not think of anything :( sorry mr broom  
> 8) why makeup? i couldn't get emo there bc it just didn't fit. my headcanon w the makeup is that aft karma becomes prince i realise he's not crossdressing anymore in the ending. yet with the dialogue in his route i think he actually really enjoys it? so perhaps he's concerned abt appearances, because he wants to be a good prince now that he's uncursed. lucette doesn't know what to say to tell him that she'll always support him with this and just wants him to be happy, so hence, the make-up. (and she just wanted to give it to him in person so that she could see his face when he opens it)  
> 9) if you liked how you could read this without crying over tense errors pls thank @skyways my bae who helped beta this!! thanks bb ur the best


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